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Acronis True Image Clone HDD to SSD - How to Guides
If you want more space or faster speeds, you should use Acronis cloning software: Acronis True Image to clone your HDD to SSD on Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, and beyond. This software helps you copy all the data from your old hard drive to a new solid-state drive, giving you more storage or a quicker computer.
By Ivy Updated on May 8, 2024
What Is Acronis Cloning Software
Acronis Cloning Software, including products like Acronis True Image and Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, is a reliable program used for disk clones and backups. With this software, you can make exact copies of your computer's operating system, hard drives, and disk partitions, ensuring you have a backup plan in case of data loss. Additionally, Acronis allows you to create bootable USB drives or CDs/DVDs, making it easy to restore your system if needed. It's a professional tool designed to keep your data safe and secure
Why use Acronis True Image to clone HDD to SSD?
It is a good idea to clone a hard drive to an SSD, whether you want to upgrade to a larger drive or get a better performance. Since Windows doesn’t offer any built-in tools for disk clones, users can only use some third-party programs like Acronis True Image. Acronis True Image is an integrated application that enables you to clone basic drives (both MBR and GPT) to other drives.
Features of Acronis Cloning Software:
- It schedules backups whenever you want, giving you control over your data.
- It's reliable and has been tested thoroughly, so you can trust it to back up and recover your files quickly.
- It can scan the system for hidden threats with its antivirus feature, helping keep your computer safe.
- You can clone basic drives, like MBR and GPT, to other drives without needing bootable media.
How to use Acronis True Image 2019 to clone to SSD
Here you can learn how to clone HDD to SSD using Acronis True Image 2019 step by step. Please download and install this software on your computer. Then, you need to create an account and activate this software.
Step 1. Connect the SSD to your computer. Make sure it can be detected. Launch this program to click Tools and Clone Disk subsequently.
Step 2. Choose whether to use Automatic (recommended) or Manual transfer mode. Then click Next.
💖 Automatic: the partitions will be proportionally resized to fit your target drive.
💖 Manual: change the disk partition layout as you wish.
Step 3. Select the drive that you want to clone. Then click Next.
Step 4. Select the SSD as the destination drive and then click Next. You will receive a prompt, saying all the data on the destination disk will be deleted, confirm it and click OK.
Step 5. Click Proceed to have Acronis clone drive.
Wait for the process to be completed. Then this program will inform you of the next steps to take.
⭐Tips:
✍This program cannot be used to clone dynamic disks.
✍Note that the cloned drive will not have a letter within Windows. Once you boot a new device from this drive, a letter will be assigned automatically.
✍Ensure that the target drive has enough capacity to fit the contents of the source drive when using the Acronis True Image clone to a smaller SSD.
Although you can clone HDD to SSD with Acronis True Image, you may meet many issues during the operation, such as Acronis True Image not cloning, Acronis True Image not finding the hard drive, Acronis clone disk operation failing, and so on. If you want a reliable and flexible tool to clone your hard drive to an SSD, you’d better turn to an Acronis True Image alternative.
Pros & Cons of Acronis Cloning Software
Acronis disk cloning software, such as Acronis True Image, offers lots of advanced features to get the job done, but it's not perfect. Let's take a closer look at the good and the bad points.
✔Pros:
It uses reliable encryption methods to keep your data safe.
You can easily restore older versions of files if needed.
You have the option to back up your data locally or in the cloud.
It can automatically sync your files, so you always have the latest versions.
✖Cons:
Data recovery might not always work for a single installation.
Some advanced features may have occasional issues, which could lead to data loss.
Users might encounter software glitches from time to time.
By now you have a rough idea of the benefits and disadvantages of the Acronis cloning software. In addition to this, users can also be particularly good at cloning HDD to SSD, and then the following.
Best alternative to Acronis True Image - AOMEI Backupper
Similar to Acronis cloning software like Acronis True Image, AOMEI Backupper Professional is an excellent hard drive cloning software for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. But you don't need to create an account for activation and it offers more useful features to help you clone HDD to SSD effortlessly.
AOMEI Backupper- Intuitive interface, easy to understand and operate.
- Clone the hard drive to a larger drive or smaller one, whether it's HDD or SSD.
- Clone MBR and GPT disk, even if the source disk and destination disk are different, for example, clone MBR to GPT.
- Clone only used sectors and skipped bad sectors during the cloning process.
- Accelerate the reading and writing speed as well as the lifespan of SSD disk
100% SecureNote the clone feature in this free trial version can only be demonstrated, to clone HDD and SSD and boot from it, please upgrade pro trial version.
Safely Clone HDD to SSD with AOMEI Backupper in Simple Steps
Before you clone:
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You’d better backup files to an external hard drive in advance if you have stored some important files on the SSD. Because the disk cloning process will overwrite the target drive.
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Connect SSD to your computer via SATA-to-USB cable and power cable. Please make sure it can be detected.
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The professional version only applies to Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. For server users, try the AOMEI Backupper Server.
Step 1. Launch the disk cloning software - AOMEI Backupper. Select Clone from the left pane and then click Disk Clone.
Step 2. Select the drive that you wish to clone (here is Disk 0). Then click Next.
Step 3. Select the SSD as the destination drive (Disk 2). Then click Next.
Step 4. In the Operation Summary window, check SSD Alignment to accelerate the reading and writing speed of the SSD. Then click Start Clone to clone HDD to SSD with AOMEI Backupper.
Also, you can use Sector by sector clone to keep the old partition layout or Edit Partitions to adjust the partition size on the destination disk. The latter one is more practical since it resolves two potential issues during the cloning process.
#1: The cloned drive does not show full capacity.
By default, all the cloning software makes an exact copy of the source disk unless you change the partition size while cloning. To prevent this from the beginning, try the following 3 options in Edit partitions.
👉 Copy without resizing partitions: It will not resize the partition size.
👉 Add unused space to all partitions: It will reallocate the unallocated space to each partition of the target disk, appropriate for the disk size.
👉 Manually adjust partition size: It allows you to extend unallocated space to any partition on the destination disk you want.
#2: The cloned drive is not bootable after cloning.
One of the biggest reasons is the destination and source disks have different partition styles and you don't convert them to the same before cloning. In this situation, you can simply check Convert the destination disk from MBR to GPT or vice versa, depending on the disk partition styles of them.
Both MBR and GPT are two different disk types for data storage. And you can check its disk properties in Disk Management. The overall steps are below:
- Press Win + R to open the Run window. Then, type diskmgmt.msc and hit OK to open disk management.
- Then, right-click the disk you want to clone and select Properties in the pop-up window.
- In the Properties window, select the Volume tab and confirm the partition style. It can be MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table).
- Similarly, check the disk partition style of the destination disk. If it is still MBR, you can directly clone the hard drive to SSD. If not, you need to convert the disk type with its Edit Partitions feature.
⭐Tips:
✍ After cloning, the source drive will not be wiped out. You can keep it as a backup or reformat the hard drive for other purposes.
✍ To get the best performance from the cloned SSD, it's suggested to clone Windows 10 to NVMe SSD, regardless of disk brand.
Tips on how do I know if the cloned SSD is bootable:
To confirm if the cloned SSD is bootable, please directly boot from it. You have two ways in the following.
Way 1: Restart your computer and press a certain key (F2, F10, F12, DEL or ESC Key, etc.) to enter BIOS, Then change the boot order inside the BIOS and boot from the cloned SSD.
Way 2 (For laptop or desktop that only one hard drive slot): Shut down your computer and remove the battery, use screwdrivers to replace the old hard drive (HDD) with the cloned SSD, then boot the computer up.
FAQs about Acronis Cloning Software
1. Is Acronis cloning software free?
No, Acronis cloning software isn't free, but it does offer a 30-day trial version. During this trial, you can test out disk cloning, backup, restoration, and remote management features. However, you can only test these features and not actually use them. To use them, you'll need to buy a license.
2. Is Acronis good for disk cloning?
Yes, Acronis cloning software is an excellent tool for disk cloning. It not only clones disks but also offers features like backup, migration, replication, and remote management, both locally and in the cloud. Whether you're upgrading from HDD to SSD or cloning MBR and GPT, it can do it quickly and securely.
3. Does Windows 10 have built-in cloning software?
Windows 10 includes a free disk imaging software called System Image, which is similar to disk cloning. This feature lets you clone your hard disk (or SSD) to an external hard drive. The main difference is that disk images create an exact copy of the OS but in a compressed format that takes up less space. On the other hand, a disk clone creates an exact copy that's readily available.
Summary
This article teaches you how to clone to SSD using Acronis True Image and suggests the best Acronis cloning software alternative, AOMEI Backupper Professional. It offers easy steps and a range of features like Disk Clone, SSD Alignment, and Sector-by-sector clone. With these, you can easily clone HDD to SSD on Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, and beyond.
AOMEI Backupper is not only disk cloning software but also a powerful Windows backup and restore software, which allows you to backup disk, operating system, and partitions to a safe location, restore to dissimilar hardware computer, command line utility to clone/backup/restore, delete old backup images, etc.
